1/13/2015

For much of I my life I have been involved with a wonderful,
and for most of us mysterious substance; glass. I should explain that before my
life as a homesteader, I was a chemist and worked first in pharmaceutical
chemistry and then as a chemistry teacher. Cabinets full of glassware were my
playground and I never lost my love and respect for retorts, conical flasks,
delivery tubes and bell jars. Even before them my childhood was filled with
what we call in the UK 'jam-jars' (and what I presume are called 'jelly jars'
in North America) filling my bedroom with tadpoles, caterpillars, germinating
seeds and slowly growing crystals.

(C) K and R Lovegrove

My love of glass jars continues to this day and I spend much
time in the summer and autumn, quickly filling them with preserves, pickles and
bottled fruit; then, over the winter and spring they are slowly brought out,
and their contents appreciatively consumed. You can freeze produce, it's true,
but nothing looks so beautiful, or tastes so good, as home 'canned' produce.
You can, of course, buy jars for the home preserving of produce, but my simple
home policy of 'recycle, reuse, repair and reduce', leads me to reclaim used
jars and reuse them time and time again. In fact, it is cheaper in the UK to
buy a jar of Polish pickles, eat the pickles, then wash and use the jar, than
it is to buy an empty jar!

(C) K and R Lovegrove

My rules for jar reuse are simple;

·Only use those jars which have labels stuck on
with water soluble paste. Reject all jars in the store if the labels are stuck
on with 'science fiction gum', it is too difficult to remove these gummed on
labels, but you might have some luck by filling the jar with warm water, leaving
for a few minutes then peeling slowly from one corner. Most jars with heavily
gummed labels can only be sent to the glass recycling bin. If possible determine
the way the label is stuck on before buying the product, wrinkly labels are
generally pasted on and are the easiest to remove by soaking.

(C) K and R Lovegrove

·Even if you cannot reuse the jar always save the
lid. Lids, as a rule don’t have as long a useful life as the jars themselves
and it is always useful to have spares.

·Keep a store of empty washed jars. Keeping them
with the lids on prevents dirt and dust getting in and stops spiders making a
home in them. You need to wash the jars before you store them and again before
they are sterilised for use.

·Always gently lever off jar lids, if you pierce
them with a small hole they will be of no further use to you.

·Never buy gummy labels to put on your own
produce jars, always use paste which is easier to clean off for next time. You can
make a paste from flour and water (adding some salt acts as a preservative), or
buy decorator wallpaper paste and mix a spoonful with water. Keep your made-up
paste in a jar.

(C) K and R Lovegrove

How to use your Jars

·Buy dried goods in recyclable paper, polythene
or ‘cellophane’ bags and empty them into appropriately sized screw top glass
jars. Don’t use a jar too small or you will be left with half a packet that won't
fit! Label your jars and store them out of direct sunlight.

·Salads can be made directly into a jar, with a
little dressing, and placed in the refrigerator for later in the day, packed
lunches or picnics.

(C) K and R Lovegrove

·Jars make excellent vases (in fact, I like them
better than vases).

·A jar with a candle in is a perfect table
decoration, outside or in!

·Drinking from a jam jar always makes the drink,
taste more ‘rebellious’

·Cloches made from jars are excellent and the
weight of the jar makes them fairly windproof. In my garden I raise runner
beans, French beans and sunflowers in this way.

(C) http://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk

·You can keep some frog-spawn or tadpoles for a few days to
give your children, and yourselves, the joy of watching them grow. Choose somewhere
cool and out of direct sunlight and then put them back in the pond. You can
take some from the pond every few days to watch their development.